Anyone have experience treating Hyperthyroidism with I-131?

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jenn and sabrina

jenn and sabrina

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Hi everyone :) ... I'm trying to help a friend whose cat was just diagnosed with hyperthyroidism decide which treatment option would be best. Right now, he is very concerned about the whole "radioactive" thing with regards to the risks to himself and his two girls who are 7 & 10.

Has anyone gone this route with treating HyperT? What exactly ARE the potential risks to humans?

From the reading I've done, it would seem that this is becoming the preferred method of treatment, yet I haven't really come across anything that does an "in depth" assessment of the human risks.

Thanks so much for any information you can provide ... my friend is a very caring pet owner and just wants to do what is best for his cat AND his family :). Hugs to all and head scratches for the kitties :) ... jenn
 
I did it with my civie, Phoebe. They give you all of the information about the chance of exposure to the radioactivity. It is minimal, but kitty will need to be separated from people for about 2 weeks. Not complete isolation but no holding in the lap or by the head. And then you have to use a special flushable litter(which was provided by my treatment facility) for 2 weeks. And kitty cannot sleep with you.
It worked for Phoebe...a little too well. She went hypo-t from it and is now on thyrosyn to keep her T4 in the regualr range. That is not common but it can happen. Good luck with your friend!
 
my friend ( human ) got this treatment and had less restrictions on her in interacting w/ her family than my Winnie did when she had it . and cats get a very tiny does compared with humans .

every state has different regulations on how long a pet must stay in isolation at the facility. ( some give a min amt of days -- but it is usually based on radioactive readings from the cat -- they have to be at a low level)
at home, we used regular litter. w/ 3 cats there was no way to separate and they said don't worry about it.
again. litter and waste are regulated by state law. we had to save it for a month before we could put it in the trash. so I kept an extra garbage bin in the garage for the month. --- I scoop frequently anyways and use brown paper lunch bags -- so easy to put it in and bio degradable. took the little bags out to the can in the garage.
at the end of the month have to scrub and dispose of all litter used. would of done so anyways w/ my scooping litter.

I have no regrets about doing this for Winnie. It worked fantastically and never had to deal w/ thyroid issue again ( and compared to what was down the road for her was the easiest treatment I can think of ;-) )

here's the place i had it done. they have some info on the site :
http://thyrocat.com/

ps. imho, you really want to find a place that does them a lot and has a very high success rate.
 
I think most of those warnings are CYA warnings. They werent concerned that my cat cuddles my other cats, only me. I didnt make any changes.. except for the keeping of the litter. I changed to Feline Pine so I could flush it. Living in a studio I was not about to keep 2 months of litter!

It isnt always 2 weeks, but it is until the radioactive level drops to a "safe" level. That is determined by your state/city laws. Conor was done on Monday and was home Thursday night.

With children and pregnant women, your friend might want to keep the cat out of the kids rooms at night to be sure, but I dont really think regular contact like petting and normal cuddles will do anything.

This link is a good link for explaining hyper T and I-131.
http://www.gcvs.com/page3/page66/page66.html
 
Maui had this done in 2006. She was required to stay at the vet in quarantine (no visiting) for 72 hours. Any personal items I left with her, was tossed when her stay was completed, any leftover food was either tossed or shared with other cats in quarantine status.

After 72 hours, I brought her home and life went back to normal, except that for the next two weeks, I was not allowed to throw the litter in the garbage - I bagged it up daily, put it in an empty litter pail and left it on the porch (after 2 weeks it was ripe) and then when the two weeks was up, tossed the pail into the trash.

That was it.
 
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